Work to begin soon on The District at Midtown

Plans are in place for The District at Midtown, a mixed-used development to be built at the site of the former Elam Arms dormitory on Hardy Street.(Photo: Susan Broadbridge/Hattiesburg American)Buy Photo

The story

In late 2014, the University of Southern Mississippi submitted a request for proposal for development of the property on Hardy Street where the Elam Arms dormitory and parking lot once stood.

A short while later, developer Rob Tatum stepped in with a plan to revitalize the property — which has been vacant since the dorm was demolished in July 2013 — with a mixed-use development known as The District at Midtown.

The District at Midtown will consist of a 100-room Hotel Indigo — a boutique hotel with locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China — which will be located at the corner of South 31st Avenue and Chevy Chase Drive. The project also will include about 35,000 square feet of retail space, which will be located on the east and west sides of South 31st Avenue, as well as room for future development.

The development is being undertaken with Tatum and his brother Craig — partners in CR Properties — along with David Oliver, partner Joel Ingram and Hattiesburg architect Larry Albert.

What happened?

Tatum recently applied for a program through the Mississippi Development Authority that would allow rebates through the sales tax on the project, but his request was only partially granted.

To help compensate for that, Hattiesburg City Council voted 5-0 in June to approve the issuance of tax-increment financing bonds up to $9 million, rather than the $6 million originally issued, to get the project started.

What's next?

Tatum said Southern Miss officials were informed Wednesday that his group was going forward with the purchase of the property. That transaction should take place within the next 30 days, with construction staring shortly thereafter.

"(We'll start construction) on both the retail and the hotel at the same time," Tatum said. "I'd say construction will probably take about 12-14 months for everything."

Tatum said he's already heard plenty of buzz about the project around town.

"Everywhere I go in Hattiesburg, everybody wants to talk about Hotel Indigo and midtown," he said. "I think there's a lot of excited people, and we're excited. There's been a lot of stakeholders involved, and we're almost close to getting to that final point."